What is adrenal fatigue? How it can affect our everyday life? What are the signs and symptoms that make up this syndrome? How do you cope with and correct adrenal fatigue? It is estimated that 80% of adult Americans will suffer from some form of adrenal fatigue during their lifetime, yet it is still one of the most underdiagnosed illnesses in the U.S., and I am one of them. As someone who is hypothyroid, has low blood pressure, blood sugar handling issues, and what feels like constant fatigue, I was always wondering what was wrong with me. A couple months ago I did a saliva hormone test which confirmed my higher than normal levels of cortisol and some level of adrenal fatigue. Since adrenal fatigue is not recognized by modern medicine and does not have International Classification of Disease codes (ICD codes), it can be difficult to receive the proper diagnosis from a physician when seeking help, unless you suffer from the most severe case like in Addison’s disease (hypoadrenia) or in Cushing’s disease (hyperadrenia). Alternative health practitioners like a natropathic doctor, an osteopathic doctor or chiropractor might be better at completing necessary tests to confirm adrenal fatigue.
Our adrenal glands are there to help us cope with the stresses of everyday life. There are two adrenal glands that sit on top of the kidneys. The hormone, Cortisol, is released by the adrenals to influence all major physiological processes in the body. Cortisol affects the utilization of carbohydrates and fats, the conversion of fats and proteins into energy, the distribution of stored fat (especially around the midline and face), normal blood sugar regulation, environmental and food allergies as well as heart and gut health. When there is too much stress in life, whether it is physical, emotional, environmental and/or physiological, our adrenals are depleted, decreasing our output of Cortisol. Adrenal fatigue occurs when the amount of stress exceeds the capacity of the body to compensate and recover from the stress.
Many things can lead to adrenal fatigue such as lifestyle factors like lack of sleep, poor diet, stimulants, lack of enjoyable activities, working too much, staying up late, infection, emotional stresses and allergies. All of these things stress out our adrenal glands. Some signs and symptoms of adrenal fatigue include trouble getting up in the morning, constant fatigue not relieved by sleep, salt cravings, lack of energy, increased efforts to do everyday tasks, decreased sex drive, decreased ability to handle stress, increased time to recover from illness/injury/trauma, light-headed when standing up quickly, depression, unhappiness, increased PMS, fuzzy thoughts, decreased productivity and less accurate memory. The reason it is so hard to diagnosis is because there is a collection of symptoms that collectively make up the syndrome.
ICD codes are needed to classify an illness and to give a proper diagnosis so they can be properly billed for by insurance companies. Blood tests will give a value of cortisol levels, but doctors only look to see if the number is within normal limits – which are extreme values for Cushing’s and Addison’s. Adrenal fatigue has no ICD code and is therefore not seen as a disease by modern medicine. Saliva tests are much more accurate at testing hormone levels, but most doctors are unfamiliar with these forms of alternative testing. Saliva testing is actually more sensitive than blood testing and is usually collected several times in a 24-hour period giving a more accurate image of when cortisol levels are high and when they are low. In addition to saliva testing, there are other tests to confirm adrenal fatigue such as the iris contraction test (when light is shined in the pupil it will alternate between contracting and dilating then remain dilated), taking blood pressure laying down and then standing (blood pressure will drop in adrenal fatigue people when they stand up), and the Sergent’s white line test. There is also an online questionnaire you can take to determine if you suffer from adrenal fatigue.
The good news is that a majority of adrenal fatigue is caused by lifestyle choices which can be changed to improve symptoms. Simply remove these health limiting factors that put unnecessary stress on the adrenal glands and you will begin your journey to recovery and health. Distinguish what is healthy in your life and what is not, and remove the unhealthy items. If you can’t change the situation then you can change the way you view the situation and try and adapt better. Or if you can’t change the situation, then you can leave the situation. Reframing the way you see things, and your viewpoint, can change how your body physically responds to something. Find things that are relaxing to you such as deep breathing, light exercise, mediation, or quite time help reset your mental state. Improving diet to combine fat, protein and carbohydrates at every meal will help stable blood sugar levels and provide a steady source of energy for the body. Add a good quality sea salt to your foods. Overtime, you will start to feel better.
